US HISTORY 118
Dr. Eric Mayer, Instructor

 Essay Examination 1 Essay Exam must be emailed to: history118@gmail.com

Essay 1 (100 possible points). Discuss and analyze the main historical trends in US History from 1870 and 1920.
Your essay must incorporate, discuss and analyze 4 of the following themes:

The successes and failures of Reconstruction.

The course of US industrialism and its social costs.

Federal policy towards Native and African Americans.

The development of the women's movement and social reform.

The Labor movement in the US.

The Progressive Movement in the US.

Essay Format:
Your essay must be at least 1500 (minimum) words in length.    You may only cite from the Keene readings and lecture.  Paraphrase from the book and lectures and cite your sources: do not use quotes.  The easiest way to cite sources is to use parenthetical citations that includes the author's last name and page number(Mayer 199).  Your essay needs MLA citations in every paragraph except the intro and the conclusion.
 Your first paragraph must contain a series of causal arguments that you intend to historically prove in the text of your essay.  You need to tell the reader what caused what to happen, when and why.  You need to specifically state in your introduction why all this stuff happened and your causal argument must be proveable.  Stay away from arguments like "greed" caused this history to happen because psychological states simply are proveable historically.    Never pose rhetorical questions in your essay.  Rhetorical questions are cheap literary devices that make your writing style non-assertive and give the reader the impression that you are not in control of your essay or the material.  Immediately give the reader your overall causal argument, and then, in succeeding sentences of your first paragraph list supporting arguments in chronological order.  The supporting arguments should be chronological in order and build on each other.
 The topic sentences of your paragraphs must do more than simply describe what the paragraph is about, they must also state why the paragraph is important to the overall argument of your essay.  In other words, the topic sentence summarizes the paragraph, but also links it back to one of the supporting arguments that you listed in your introductory paragraph.  You must have dates or at least periodize in almost every paragraph.  Paragraphs should be one-third to one-half page in length.  Finally, your essay must have a conclusion that restates your original argument in light of the data and facts that were discussed in the text of your essay.  A paragraph is at least four sentences long.
 To obtain an optimal grade your essay must be clearly written.  Clarity of style, proper grammar, spelling, analytical organization and logical coherence are essential if you wish to receive a passing grade.  DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TURN IN A FIRST DRAFT as your finished essay.  A decent paper will go through at least three rewrites.  Therefore revision, rewrite, revision, rewrite, etc., is the process that will earn you a good grade. I will be happy to read drafts, outlines, revisions, etc., of your paper.